Alleged teenage killer Ricky Godfrey claims police forced him into making a statement and identifying crime scene locations following the gruesome killing of his school friend Samantha Uys.

The Pretoria High Court will on Wednesday rule on whether the statement Godfrey, 18, made to the police was to be allowed as evidence against him.

Godfrey and his friend Kabelo Mokwena, 18, are facing a charge of murder following the 2005 murder of Uys, who was 18.

She and her alleged killers attended the Tshwane University of Technology. She was writing her matric through a correspondence course while Godfrey, who was 17 at the time, and Mokwena were doing their Grade 10.

'A normal child could not do this'

Samantha's murder shocked the country as she was cruelly and severely beaten, stabbed and strangled to death.

She went missing on November 20 2005 and her decomposed body was found about nine days later near a quarry in Mamelodi. Her jeans were tied around her neck.

Her body was so badly decomposed that police had to do forensic tests to ascertain whether it was her.

The State claimed the accused and Samantha left in her mother's car on November 20 2005. They lived close to each other in Meyerspark and were good friends.

They drove to a bridge in Silverton, where the accused got out of the car and smoked dagga. Samantha remained in the car, but later got out to tell her friends she wanted to leave. It is claimed that one of the accused grabbed her from behind and strangled her, while the other kicked her.

The State claimed she was dragged to a nearby tree. She was later loaded into the car and the accused allegedly drove with her to a nearby river, where she was left. They apparently took the car and bought petrol, but later returned to where she was.

It is claimed that one of the accused then stabbed her three times in the neck before again loading her into the car. They drove to Mamelodi quarries, where her body was dumped. One of the accused apparently dropped a rock on her head.

They left her in the veld and allegedly later sold her mother's car to unknown people in Mamelodi.

Both accused pleaded not guilty to the charges. Godfrey claimed he acted under "extreme duress" while Mokwena chose to remain silent.

A trial within a trial was held on Tuesday to establish whether Godfrey was forced into making a statement. His claims against the police included that they were under the influence of alcohol at the time of questioning him.

He said some of them threatened him, while others slapped him. He claimed he was forced to make statements and pointings-out of the crime scene and never warned of his constitutional rights. This was denied by the police.

Godfrey said he had been confused and scared at the time. The State noted that he was not the average schoolboy, because at the time of his arrest he had long black hair and a tattoo. Godfrey, who now has shaved off his hair and was dressed in black, on Tuesday huddled together with his co-accused in the dock. A magistrate who earlier refused them bail said at the time that they were either sadists or satanists, because "a normal child could not do this".

Johannesburg - A beautician, 39, believed it was "divine intervention" that she, her daughter, 14, and their domestic worker, 45, escaped falling victim to a West Rand serial rapist.

A suspect who was arrested shortly after the incident, will appear in the Roodepoort Regional Court on Thursday.

Karen Gess described the "amazing circumstances" that saved them on June 5.

The drama started at about 08:30 after she had left her place of work to fetch something from home.

Gess, who joined the anti-crime network eblockwatch only four days previously, said her daughter and the domestic worker were alone at home that day.

Attacker in the yard

When she rang the bell at the gate for the domestic worker to open the door, the criminal was already concealed inside the yard.

When the domestic worker opened the back door's safety clip in order to unlock the gate, he slipped in.

"When I heard her screams, I jumped over the wall, pressed the panic button on my cellphone and stormed into the house."

She was thinking only about her daughter and the domestic worker. When she entered the house, her daughter and the worker had locked themselves into a room.

"I begged with him and offered him anything inside the house - but at first he was only interested in cellphones and money."

'Please God'

He threatened Gess's daughter and domestic worker that he would kill Gess if they didn't come out.

Once they were together in the same room, he tied them up with shoelaces. While they were sitting on a bed, they kept praying out loud: "Please God, don't let him hurt us."

He locked Gess's daughter and the domestic worker into a room and then dragged Gess around in the house.

In the bedroom he pushed her onto the bed and sat down next to her.

She was sure the end was near when he put his hands on her neck and started strangling her.

He also tried to strangle her with a scarf, but she fought back, causing the shoelaces to cut deep into her skin.

He took off her pants and underclothes and got on top of her, but before he could rape her, her brother, John McLean, 44, "miraculously arrived" and shouted through her bedroom window: "Get off her! Go away!"

McLean rushed from Sandton in 12 minutes to help them after receiving the emergency SMS from eblockwatch.

Her attacker got up, stormed out of the house and escaped over the wall.

"Weeping and lame with shock" she grabbed the key to the room where the other two were still tied up and rushed to make sure they were still okay.

According to Gess she felt a lot more in charge once she had the key in her hands and was able to unlock the door.

"It's a pity my daughter had to see me half-naked. She started crying and wanted to know if he had touched me."

Gess and her daughter were so shocked that they had to take tranquillisers for three days. She still had nightmares about the incident.

She cannot sleep before making sure every door is locked and the alarm system activated.

Two suspects will appear on similar charges. Both are being held. An identity parade was held at Booysens police station on Monday.

At least three women have been raped in the area between May and June.

Johannesburg - A robber who attacked an elderly woman at her Hazyview farm on Wednesday has died in hospital after being shot by Mpumalanga police.

Spokesperson Mtsholi Bhembe said the man had been killed in a shootout with police near the farm.

Three men, carrying two R-5 rifles and a 9mm pistol, had earlier attempted to rob the 75-year-old woman while she was coming out of her front door.

The men pulled the woman outside the house and put a gun into her mouth.

When a 35-year-old woman, believed to be her daughter, came out of the house and saw what was happening, the robbers fired two or three shots at her. The bullets did not hit the woman and she ran inside and pushed a panic button.

Police and two private security companies responded to the alert and started searching for the men who had run away.

Nothing was stolen from the house.

Bhembe said: "One of them was attacked by the dog and he was bitten on the leg."

One man was later found hiding in the veld and when police tried to approach him, he started firing his 9mm pistol at them.

The man was shot and admitted to hospital where he later died.

Police were still searching for the two attackers carrying R-5 rifles.